Two Tunnels Butterfly Count

Species: Comma (1) Common Blue (1) Dingy Skipper (1) Green Hairstreak (1) Green-veined White (2) Grizzled Skipper (2) Holly Blue (1) Large Skipper (2) Orange Tip (3) Painted Lady (1) Peacock (1) Speckled Wood (1) Large Skipper - Tucking Mill 28-05-2022 The 28th of May was a cloudy day with the occasional sunny interlude. I arrived at the Tucking Mill viaduct at around 3pm, and headed straight for a section of embankment that often harboured butterflies at this time of year. Common Blue Damselfly - Tucking Mill 28-05-2022 Being rather cloudy, there were not many butterflies to be seen. A lone Green Hairstreak could be seen nectaring on Birds-foot Trefoil the other side of the fence, and some odd looking day-flying moths could be seen in the distance. What was noticeable were the many small damselflies that flew up from the grass as I moved along the fence line. I believe these to be the Common Blue damselflies. Common Carpet moth - Tucking Mill 28-05-2022 On many of my wanderings, I com...

Species: Brimstone (1) Comma (1) Common Blue (3) Dingy Skipper (6) Green Hairstreak (2) Grizzled Skipper (4) Holly Blue (1) Painted Lady (3) Peacock (3) Small White (1) Speckled Wood (1) (Possibly) a Five-spot Burnet moth- Tucking Mill 22-05-2022 (Note the micromoth below the left wings, probably Cocksfoot Moth - Glyphipterix simpliciella) The weather was promising as I set off for todays trip. My last excursion, back on the 7th May, was limited by slow moving clouds obscuring the sun. Not so today, the temperature had reached 20c and the clouds had parted.  Green Hairstreak - Tucking Mill 22-05-2022 I headed off to a spot where I had, a few years ago, seen Marsh Fritillary butterflies. Armed with binoculars I scanned the field without success. This is a notoriously rare and fickle butterfly, often appearing and disappearing from one year to the next. I did spot two Green Hairstreak butterflies here though. This is the third location in the valley where I have now seen this b...

Species : Brimstone (2) Comma (1) Dingy Skipper (4) Green-veined White (2) Grizzled Skipper (2) Holly Blue (2) Peacock (3) Small White (1) Speckled Wood (1) The cycle path between Tucking Mill and Midford 07-05-2022 The weather was promising when I set off on my trip on the 7th May. It was warm and sunny with broken cloud as I exited the tunnels at around 2:30pm.  However, the few clouds that slowly drifted across the sky were not playing ball. Much of this excursion would be under cloudy skies, limiting the number of butterflies active and visible. I decided to ride on over the Midford Viaduct and out towards the village of Wellow where the off-road section of path finishes. It was on this section of the path where I saw the distinctive shape and flight pattern of a Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly fly pass me in the opposite direction. Red Campion - Midford Station -07-05-2022 With the sun still firmly stuck behind a slow moving cloud, I then made my way slowly back towards Midford...